New rumor dashes hopes of a 5G Mac with Face ID anytime soon

The new M1 Macs have opened up a world of possibility for Apple’s computers, but two of the most sought-after features might take a little longer to arrive. According to a new Bloomberg report, Apple isn’t rushing to add 5G or Face ID to Macs this year.

That will surely be a bummer to anyone hoping for a speedy transition to a truly next-gen Mac. While a new iMac, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air could be on the way this year, they will likely stick to the same standard set of features, possibly with new designs. Bloomberg reports that while Apple is indeed working on 5G cellular connectivity and Face ID for the Mac, it’s not part of the next round of 2021 releases.

Specifically, the report targets the iMac as the first model to get Face ID for unlocking and authentication, but Bloomberg says the feature, which “had originally been planned to arrive in this year’s ‌iMac‌ redesign,” is now “unlikely” to be included in the model releasing later this year. The iMac is one of the few devices Apple makes that doesn’t use biometrics for secure authentication.

Face ID has long been on our Mac wishlist, with Microsoft having already integrated the feature in Windows 10 with Windows Hello. Face ID debuted with the iPhone X in 2017 and has since made its way to the iPad Pro, but Apple has yet to expand the technology to any other products.

The addition of cellular connectivity is another long-awaited feature that Apple has yet to deliver to the Mac. After 5G arrived on the iPhone this fall, there was hope that Apple would quickly bring it the Mac, but it appears as though it might take a little longer.